Journal entry of a Nightwing
by Informative Doodles
Summary: A one-shot on Ghostflame, a Nightwing who lived in the volcano before it erupted, who reflects on his classes in the Nightwing kingdom.


**Here's a one-shot on the thoughts of a Nightwing in the volcano before the eruption. Disclaimer: I don't own Wings of Fire.**

* * *

"Ghostflame!"

My head is thrown off of the granite desk and my eyes pop open. Mastermind stands before me, his tail posed to strike me again, "Were you listening… or did you doze off?"

I sneak a glance at the Nightwing in front of me, who is shooting me a smirk, his lips drawn back into a sneer.

 _Mightyclaws…_ I think, distastefully. _Finally glad it's not him Mastermind is picking on._

I turn my head back to the looming black dragon and try to avoid his eyes that seem penetrate the air. "Uh… no sir." I stammer.

Mastermind glares at me before stalking toward the front of the classroom. He then proceeds to draw my attention to the front of the room, where he has been writing on the blackboard.

"Now." He begins, his dark eyes scanning the room before continuing. "This is the equation used to know how much time we have left until the volcano erupts." Mastermind turns his back to us, and starts to scrawl on the board with a piece of chalk. "You take the height of the volcano, multiplied by the weight, and divide it by the hypotenuse, and add that to the decimal form of the percentage rate of increase in earthquakes, subtracted by…"

His useless yammering turns to distance background noise in my ears. I grit my teeth and scratch my claws down the sides of the desk. Do all dragonets have to take classes that show you how to count down the days until your demise? Or take lessons on how to be the most sharp-witted, sarcastic, lying, thieving, caustic tyke in all of Pyrrhia?

I stretch my black wings, thankful that Morrowseer had seated me in the back of the room, instead of up at the front with all the dragonets who actually take their classes seriously. My stomach growls and I shift in my seat, counting down the minutes until I could go get my seagull that I had bitten a few days ago… although it didn't seem that appetizing, and I probably lost it somewhere on this filthy prison of a kingdom.

After a boring lecture, Mastermind slides out of the classroom to his lab, leaving us all the more stupid then we were before…perhaps even more so. As I streak to the door, I nearly run into Fierceteeth, who gives me a warning hiss.

"Watch is, Ghostface." She snarls before exiting.

"Ghost _flame_." I correct, as if she'd actually take my response into consideration.

As I scamper out the door, I manage to snag Morrowseer's attention, who is standing by the doorway. He has somehow escaped Fierceteeth's gaze (I really don't know what her obsession with him is).

He clears his throat loudly, and I shrink back a bit.

"Um… sir… how can I help you?"

The Nightwing's gaze is like the volcano, imitating, ominous, and like death, looming over us and jeering for our ignorance of our expiration date, in which it has knowledge of.

"You feel asleep again?" He rumbles.

My heart does a few jumping jacks, and I flinch. "Aw, snail guts…" I curse under my breath.

The ground smells like sulfur and rotting flesh as I dip my snout toward it in submission. "My deepest condolences, Morrowseer."

He gives me a hulking glare and sweeps his tail over me. "This is the third time."

I hang my head in shame." Yes, I know… but these classes… going out past midnight."

Morrowseer's talons scrape the floor, ignoring my complaint. "All the other dragonets seem to manage."

 _Maybe because I'm not one of your prized dragonets, huh?_ I think fiercely, throwing my thoughts in his direction. Sometimes, I desperately wishes the Nightwing lies were true, so I wouldn't have to say everything on my mind to get a point across.

"I'll try harder." I bow a little farther forwards until I hear him turn to leave.

"Very well, I accept your apology… " He stops. "Oh, by the way… Mastermind wants to see you."

I cringe and lift my head. _Mastermind? Seriously? What does the geeky old dragon want now?_

I drag my feet on my way over to his lab, seriously hoping that Morrowseer had only told me that to get me riled up. I knock on the door three times, each knock echoing like dropping a pebble off of a chasm.

"Come in, Ghostflame." I hear his voice from the inside, monotone and apathetic. "I'm in the back."

I push open the door, quite reluctantly, and sneak a glance around the room. It is filled with boxes, and tables, and huge pots and beakers litter the table tops. Notes and splashes of chemical are scattered across the floor. Without any sort of remorse, I allow the door to slam shut behind me with a bang. Mastermind, who is curled behind a desk in the far end of the room, jumps, and hits his head on the underside of it, scattering notes and scrolls everywhere.

"Ghostflame!" He sighs, and his head pops up from behind the table." Don't do that."

I can see that he's wearing a ridiculous visor on his face for no apparent reason, almost like a mask. He beckons me over.

"Why am I here?" I ask, trying to mimic his boring tone.

"Because you missed an abundance of class, and I would like you to help me during break to make up for it." Mastermind answers in a matter-of-a-fact voice.

He bends down to fetch a glass bowl and presses it into my talons. "Hold this."

I exhale loudly, although it was kind of raspy and hoarse, and trot up next to him. Mastermind start explaining his current experiment to me, which really only sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, as he leads me farther to the back of the room. I look at the passing tables, with huge bubbling vats of green liquid, and breakers filled to the top, threatening to spill over. A stone bowl sits in the middle of the biggest table, halfway filled with thick, black oil.

"What's that?" I ask, interrupting Mastermind's speech. I reach out a claw to touch is, curiously, but the older dragon seizes it in his own.

"Don't touch that!" He shouts, projecting a panicked voice in my ear. "Do you want to be disintegrated?"

"Disinta-what now?" I wonder. The oil appears to be bubbling. "What in the name of the three moons is that?"

Mastermind ignores my question and tears me from the table. He pulls me to the left wall and when I see what he's headed toward, my heart jumps up to my throat. I stare up at the stone black wall in horror as Mastermind makes a sudden halt in front of it. A dragon is pinned to the wall. Her wings are chained against the flat surface, and her mouth is muzzled with a metal band. Her scales are dark, like the volcano ash always raining on us, and her eyes are closed, almost in a peaceful slumber.

"What… what is that?" I whisper.

The glass bowl slips from my grasp and shatters on the ground, shards spilling everywhere. The dragon breaths in sharply, and opens her eyes a tiny bit. They're a startling blue, and I'm nearly mesmerized by them. Her gaze, however, is filled with disgust, and sorrow, like 'oh no, not _another_ Nightwing''. The dragon reverts her glance to Mastermind, who is sweeping up the glass pieces to the side of the cluttered path.

"It's a Rainwing, Ghostflame."

My stomach suddenly squeezes, and I wrench, the contents of my last meal splattering to the floor (although, might I add, wasn't much).

"Oh, Ghostflame, not on the floor." The Older Nightwing grumbles. I'm afraid to apologize; I might throw up again if I open my mouth. My eyes squeeze shut, unable to stare at the dragon any longer. I feel another bowl being shoved into my grasp and I have to grip it with all my strength to keep myself from shaking.

"Mastermind." I stammer, and crack my eyes open again. "Why is there-"

"For science!" He cuts in, as if he's been waiting for me to ask. "It's for the most superior tribe in all of Pyrrhia, of course!"

I clench my teeth, disgusted with his words. "But 'the most superior tribe in all of Pyrrhia'… should not enslave other dragons."

"Watch your words, lad." The scientist growls, his tongue flicking through his teeth. He turns back to the Rainwing, who has opened her eyes a bit more, sneaking a glance at me. I throw my attention back to Mastermind, so I won't have to look at her death-colored scales.

"It's wrong, Mastermind, and you know it!" I shout. "You need to let that dragon go… you're involving us in the war, ganging up on an oblivious tribe."

Mastermind snorts, and regards me with a cold gaze. "That'll be the day."

"Mastermind!" I place the bowl on the ground next to me.

"Enough!" He yells, swiping his tail at me. "Don't you have someone else to bother?!"

I dip my head toward the ground, flicking my eyes up, daring to catch one last glimpse of the dragon on the wall. She's giving me a crooked smile, and a rose pink appears on her ruff before being swallowed again by darkness.

 _I'll get you out of there._ I think. _I promise I will…_

I turn back to the way I had come, heading for the door. _Even if it means going against Mastermind… Morrowseer, Queen Battlewinner… Maybe the whole tribe. I'll get you out… if only I could find someone who thinks the same._

 _*fine*_


End file.
